


Monsters Inside Us

by CorgiGal



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Original Percival Graves, Love, Nightmares, Original Percival Graves Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Protective Tina Goldstein, Tina Comforts Percival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 05:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10712718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorgiGal/pseuds/CorgiGal
Summary: Percival's night terrors are out of control and he can't take it anymore. Tina settles him down.Little AU that implies Tina and Percival were together before Grindelwald. Just a fluffy one shot inspired by this wonderful moodboard on tumblr: http://totusflore.tumblr.com/post/159866158300/graves-has-nightmares-tina-comforts-him-its





	Monsters Inside Us

Tina opened her eyes, not to the writhing and muffled screams she had become accustomed to, but to silence and rumpled sheets where Percival should be. She pressed her palm to his spot, finding it devoid of any residual heat, always on the left but inching ever closer to the edge and away from her with every night terror. There were times where she had been kneed in the stomach, punched in the shoulder, and even wrestled to the floor. While she never blamed him, it was impossible to hide the bruises; not from the trained eyes of MACUSA’s best Auror.

_(‘I can’t keep doing this to you, I just can’t,’ Percival yelled, his voice breaking as much as Tina’s heart. ‘I’m staying in the guest room until this is over, until I’m better.’_

_‘That won’t solve anything,’ Tina stood in front of the door, a barrier she knew he wouldn’t fight. ‘We’ll work through this, just please, don’t push me out. I just want to help I-’_

_‘Have welts every morning! From me, Tina, from me!’)_

It had been nearly two weeks of sharing the bed like strangers. A bed that had once been a safe haven to melt away the stresses of the day had become a warzone, a point of contention that almost ended the fragile relationship they had forged from trust and compassion so long ago.

And now he was gone.

The door was wide open, the outside hall a dark abyss.

Tina walked through them, the only sound in the house being that of the creaking wood beneath her feet. No matter how quiet she tried to be, the old house always ratted her out, something that thankfully made it impossible to surprise Percival. She called out to him, only to be serenaded back with the echoes of her own voice.

The door to the guest bedroom was also wide open. A quick Lumos revealed a neatly made bed, with specks of dust lining the bedside table that also laid bare. No reading glasses, evening editions of The New York Ghost, or empty vials of dreamless sleep, because it wasn’t his room. It never would be; not if Tina could help it.

But where was Percival?

Not on the living room couch, curled up so his legs wouldn’t hang out as she had found him once. Or slumped over the kitchen coffee table with an empty mug in his hand and the hot pot waiting for him at the counter, forgotten.

But… outside. Sitting in the backyard, on the grass, staring up at the summer sky above. The white pajama shirt he loved still hung loose on his frame, even after all the food she and Queenie tried to convince him to eat and it was a miracle his pants never fell when he walked.

Tina opened the glass door, careful not to slam it shut. He had not moved an inch yet.

“Percival?”

He still did not move, but she at least made her presence known. She would not make that mistake again.

It was only when she got close enough that she noticed the blades of grass between his fingers, being ripped to shreds and dropped into a large pile gathering between his legs.

“There weren’t any stars where he kept me,” he finally said as she took a seat beside him, his voice hoarse. “I almost forgot they existed.”

“How many do you think there are?”

Another blade of grass fell and he stopped, letting his hands rest on his lap. “I stopped counting at three hundred.”

His hand lingered over to her knee, a place he hadn’t touched in so long that Tina had forgotten about the soft spark he ignited in that area. She nearly flinched but stopped, knowing the little action would be taken the wrong way and set them back ages.

“I miss you,” Percival finally choked out. “I miss holding you when you sleep.”

“Me too,” Tina tangled her fingers through his, joining them together to that spot, to that moment. “Do you want to try again?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, his bright eyes, so clear under the moon, darting in thought before sinking. “I don’t want to hurt you, Tina.”

“I know you don’t mean it,” she stressed, squeezing his hand, as if he would somehow walk away if she didn’t. “That you’re just fighting _him_.”

“He’s just so _real_ ,” Percival explained, something he didn’t need to do. Not to her. “I can _feel_ him against me,” he shuddered. “I can still _smell_ his cologne. Bitter and _rotten_ and-”

He shrunk before her, a trembling mess that would retreat from the world and leave behind a shell if she didn’t intervene. “It’s alright,” Tina scooted over closer, close enough for Percival to droop his head down to her shoulder and her heart _ached_. “I’m here. You’re outside; we’re free. We’re free. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“But he is,” he said, barely above a whisper. “Look at us. Look at what he’s doing.”

She pressed a kiss to the mess of uncombed hair, and another, until the hurried breaths slowed. “He tried, but I’m here, alright? I’m not leaving.”

“Even if I-”

“Yes,” Tina nuzzled against the scruffy man. “You’re stuck with me, I’m afraid.”

Percival snorted, his whole body contorting towards hers, begging for the soft touch and affection that he tried to convince himself he didn’t need. “I do want to try.”

They stayed under the dotted sky a little while longer, until the residual effects of his nightmare came to a halt. Tina never let go of his hand; not that he would let her even if she tried. Not while they wiped grass and dirt off each other, or when Tina tripped over the hidden step leading back in the house – something they always laughed about together.

When they finally laid down again, both at the center of the bed, Percival wrapped his arms around Tina as they had once done every single night without fail. Their bodies curved into one another’s, slotting perfectly and for the first time in weeks they both breathed a little easier, forgoing the heavy covers altogether in favor of each other’s natural warmth. Throughout it all, Tina hummed a gentle song; something quiet and as peaceful as the summer breeze outside, until Percival loosened around her and filled her ears with the steady breathing of a sleeping man.

Percival awoke the next morning to bright lights pouring through the curtains and a chorus of birds outside their window. And a wonderful woman still curled in his arms, snoring softly against the hollow of his neck.

He closed his eyes again and for the first time in two weeks, he smiled.


End file.
